Images (.JPG format):
It seems as though that we are experiencing an escalating, negative increase in the duration of the duration of solar illumination, requiring that we carefully pick our perambulatory destination such that, upon our arrival at the terminus of our stated course, sufficient helio-photonic emissions remain to adequately stimulate our foveae in order to visualize the surrounding geographic and botanical features at said destination and along the for the initial portion of the retrograde sojourn of our route.
Also, it's just getting dark too early to go very far.
On this evening we chose the Prince of Wales Mine - just up the hill from one of our recent destinations, the Wellington Mine at the top of Silver Fork. As with last week's hike, this was in the area of Albion Basin - but up Grizzly Gulch - the gulch that the road would follow were to continue straight up-canyon rather than turning to the right just past the guard shack. (Probably where the road used to go a century ago...)
In years past, we'd simply parked near the guard shack, wandered about to find an old mining road and gone up, past other mines and their dumps. More recently, we've been following a somewhat more distinct trail, just past a house near the mouth of Grizzly Gulch: This trail has the unique property that, driving up the road, it's nearly invisible - unless you are looking behind you - this, due to its angle of takeoff. Fortunately, this is a relatively little-used trail and we've not had too much trouble finding somewhere to park in the limited space provided.
Going uphill past the house - with its resident canines announcing our presence - we soon found ourselves following the corridor of the same power lines that cross over Twin Lakes Pass. After going through the trees for a short distance, the trail opens up into a small meadow where one has the first opportunity to cross the stream. In the past, we'd followed the more-obvious road to the left (hence, the question of the day...): This leads steeply up an access road, past several mine workings, and eventually levels out slightly at a point where the road either continues up toward Twin Lakes Pass, or goes to the left toward the top of Silver Fork. This time, we hugged the less-prominent trail along the right side of the canyon: Last year, some of our group followed this down and even though the remains of this mining road are badly washed out, it seemed to be an easier walk uphill - being slightly longer, but less-steep overall.
At the upper portion of this bypass, rejoining the steep access road, we followed the trail toward the pass between Silver Fork and Grizzly Gulch, making good time and easily getting to the Prince of Wales Mine well before sunset. When I arrived, I was a minute or two behind Ron and Chris and was surprised to find that they weren't at the mine. Looking around, I spotted them some distance below me: Somehow, they'd followed the lower road and were picking their way along, seeming to have already realized that they'd made a wrong turn somewhere: Seeing me up the hill from them, they made their way up the steep slope - after a few more minutes of exploration, of course.
Before too long, Gordon and Mike - both of whom were maintaining a more-leisurely pace - arrived. After loitering about, re-acquainting ourselves with the surroundings, enjoying the scenery, and taking in the sunset, we posed for the obligatory group picture before Mike and Chris started down, followed a few minutes later by the rest of the group.
Having left after sunset, it was fairly dark by the time we rejoined the road in Grizzly Gulch and it was even darker by the time we reach the car. Piling into our vehicles, we wandered down-canyon and some of us (Ron, Gordon, Tim and I) shortly reconvened at the Rocky Mountain Pizza Company for some Bluegrass music, Pizza and Salad, but unfortunately, they'd put the salad bar away. When we arrived at 9:35 and asked when they rolled up the salad fixin's, they said that it took a half hour to do so, but if we got there at 9:30, we could have gotten salad: I was confused by the fact that, at 9:35, everything was already gone - even though they said that it took them 30 minutes to do so - but I didn't press the issue... I suspect that we really need to be there no later than 9:15 to get some salad...
The Prince of Wales mine was largely developed after 1870 by the Walker brothers, who also owned the claim to the Wellington tunnel (just down the hill below the Prince of Wales mine in the clearing near the top of Silver Fork where remnants of a 20 horsepower steam engine may be seen) and constructed a pipeline of more than a mile in length, mostly underground, to feed the steam engine at both locations. The source of water were some springs in Grizzly Gulch (just below Twin Lakes Pass) with the pipeline going up the slope and then following the contour across to the pass at the top of Silver Fork, the entire system being fed by a 15 horsepower steam-driven pump at the spring. Apparently, the entire roadway from Grizzly Gulch to the pass at the top of Silver Fork had been covered by a snowshed to protect it from avalanches - a length of approximately 1800 feet. What remains of the Prince of Wales mine are pieces of the 40 horsepower steam engine that drove the mine hoist. Originally, this machinery was housed in a 20 by 50 foot two-story building (with the engine in the lower level) that completely covered both shafts and provided protection against the frequent snowslides from above.
As can be seen from image #3752 of an earlier hike, this engine was manufactured by the Ames Iron Works of Oswego, New York. This company operated from at least 1862 into the late 1950's or early 1960's. At about the time of World War II, with the business in steam power declining, they started to concentrate on other products, notably tanks during the war as well as heavy equipment such as hot water boilers, etc.
This steam engine was a so-called crossflow fire tube boiler - the "crossflow" part coming from the fact that the "steam" end is on the side opposite the firebox. As might be expected, the engine was also of the double-acting type (that is, pressure is applied during both directions of the piston's travel.) If you look carefully at the main piston assembly, you can also see the cross-linking to the control valve - the one that is used to divert hot steam to one side of the piston or the other. In modern-day heat exchangers, the fire tube boiler has been replaced with other types owing to its tendency to "disassemble" itself rather spectacularly when it did fail - particularly if the operator allowed the water level to get too low and flash boil.
This mine was also tied in with the Wellington Tunnel (the one just below it) as well as the Annie and Antelope Tunnels (also owned by the Walkers) in Honeycomb fork and some remnants of this road can still be followed as it winds around and drops into Honeycomb.
The Prince of Wales mine was one of the more successful of the mines in the Wasatch, operating in one form or another (mostly under lease) until the mid 1930's and its main product was Galena (lead sulfate) as well as lead carbonates such as Cerussite, and various copper-bearing minerals such as Malachite.
Some online resources about the Prince of
Wales Mine and other nearby workings:
- One may find a 1916 USGS report on this and other mines in the Little and Big Cottonwood Canyon areas - the link is here. Look on pages before and after those pointed to by the link, or you can download the entire book using a link on this page.
- Other interesting data about the mine may be found in an 1880 census report on mining and precious metals at this link.
- A more-recent publication that describes some of the mines and geology of the area may be found at this link. which contains portions of the book "A Hiking Guide to the Geology of the Wasatch Mountains" by William T. Parry.
Some of the above information is from the book "The Lady in the Ore Bucket" by Charles Keller.
Comments about pictures taken by
Clint:
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